NRI Theory

The dream of every individual is to own his/her own house sometime in their lives. Considering the ever reducing life spans of our cosmopolitan lives we would like to think that this event happens sooner rather than later in our busy lives. We find it as a great accomplishment when we manage to go ahead and get that home loan and buy a house even though the former is at an obnoxiously inflated rate of interest, leading us to pay nearly twice the actual amount of our dream house.

Now lets observe the situation around us. In most desirably habitable places the apartments are all sold out even before the first floor slabs are done with. However when the whole building is ready to be occupied no one is in the apartments. Who the hell are the people who bought these apartments at such ridiculous prices and can afford not to live in them. Let me introduce the culprits - the dearly beloved N.R.I. who seems to be earning so many truckloads of money that even though they have no intention of returning back home they will almost surely go ahead and invest their money on some real estate out here, leading to a surge in prices and ruining the dreams of the regular MIG Indian aka myself.

Now many of them will cribb their asses off telling me that they are actually contributing to the great Indian economy by pushing in their valuable dollars into the mill. Gimme a break yaar, if you want to really contribute non-zealously to the growth of the country while you earn a hefty sum abroad do so via some charitable institutions or maybe the capital markets or maybe some India centric investment funds.

If nothing else atleast wait till I manage to afford myself a decent 2bhk!

Quitting Guavus

Have put in my papers at Guavus Networks. Why? Hmmm.... read here
Where? ....Am moving out to Microsoft to work with their VSTT group. More on that once I get some info on what I can disclose about my work there:)
Cheers

Gori Chamdi - Reader's Digest Joy.

After a really long time I happened to pick up a copy of the Reader's Digest this month. Luckily for me there was a new additional supplement called Reader's Digest Joy - for free, along with the issue. Super! I reader the editor's (Mohan Sivanand) note which read, and I quote,

"The Indian edition of the Reader's Digest reached out to more than seven lakh urban women, which is more than the combined reach of all the top Indian women's magazines" ....
"We decided to reach out further with this first issue of Reader's Digest Joy, aimed at our women readers"... blah blah blah.

Oh what a wonderful thought Mr. Sivanand. Since you are so very much in touch with such a large diaspora of the Indian feminine society can you please tell me the reason you chose to stick a pic of a brunette chick on the front cover of your oh so Indian "Joy" ? Total humbug.

This crap is very evident in all our desi publications with blatant neglect of copyright and sticking in pics taken from just about anywhere and mostly of foreigners, sometimes doing crap totally unrelated to the article too. Why cant you stick in some good desi kuris in there. See the recent flurry of sweetness in the Times of India, with pictures of the hip chicks goings for admissions to colleges and some doing boat rides with their families. I wonder who that dame was on the boat ride, very beautiful, had that Mumtaz kinda look in hair and eyes with a 21st century bod to melt ya down. Anyways I digress what is the infatuation with white flesh that we desis seem to have. Come on take a look at the beauty around ya isn't that good enough. If not, go home and get a spanking from your mom right now!

Courage

Courage is not the absence of fear, but the ability to hold true to one’s convictions and ideals while facing down the bureaucracy that inverts entrepreneurship’s fundamental premise of service. – Dr. Elliot McGucken from his lecture, “Hero’s Journey Entrepreneurship.”

Yatra.com impresses

I recently attempted to purchase 4 tickets from Delhi to Srinagar, for a friend of mine . While scanning through the various travel portals out there yatra.com was offering a good deal. We immediately went on to purchase the tickets. However I had to fill out the lengthy personal details of all the 4 travellers. When I completed the form and hit the submit button the site claimed that the tickets I was trying to book were no longer available :(. Worse still it also mentioned that since the credit card was precharged for the tickets I would see a deduction on my card and it would be reverted at the earliest. This ofcourse got me all fumed up especially since I had a hefty bill from the previous month itself. I just thought I'd wait for a day or two and see what happenes and this is what happened.

The very evening this occured I get a call from their customer care rep. detailing and apologizing for what occured. He went on to ask me if I still needed to book the tickets so that he could check and let me know whats available. I said I didnt need them anymore. He then specifically told me that the amount debited from my card would be credited back within 3-5days.

Now thats customer service. Keep up the good work yatra.com. You have my vote for splendid customer care. Thanks

Update: Can you believe it. I actually got my refund back in 5 days, as promised.

Jay Walking Rudy Giuliani

I just read this article about the comedy show at the republican presidential debates starring New York's ex-mayor and now a Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani.

This is typical Jay Walking material. It always stuns me to find out the sheer lack of basic common knowledge in Americans. For nearly a decade now they have been facing the ire of extremists and fundamentalists from the middle east who have openly proclaimed war on their nation on the singular premise that the "infidels", aka the Americans, have infiltrated and occupied their holy land, ie the middle east beginning from the Kuwaiti occupation of American troops.

Now this has been shouted off the rooftops by these terrorists. A simple withdrawal of troops from the middle east would nip the menace right at the bud. If this is done these terrorist organizations will cease to have any reason for existence and if nothing else their sources of funding and ability to recruit new blood will definitely drop to minuscule levels.

The fact the Rudy Giuliani had no clue about this, even though he has been riding the high wave with the 9/11 attacks, and the fact that the crowd cheered at his dumb explanations is even more comical. How about some common sense courses for the American curriculum. Try being a good global citizen before attempting to be a global superpower.

Technorati Tags: Rudy Guiliani, Terrorism, America, Jay Walking

Freedom of Expression - Do we have it in India?

It has been a shameful spate of events occurring at Vadodara. The thugs of the VHP, lead by a particular Neeraj Jain, who claim to be representatives of the majority of the country have vandalized and illegally imprisoned a college student. All this hooliganism based on their restricted and uneducated point of view of the paintings of a few students.

It's sad to see that in a country like ours where our forefathers paid artists generously to adorn their palaces and temples with deities and beautiful women alike, today's artistes don't have the freedom that is symbolic of a diverse and educated society. They respected these artistes as they held the ability to put into form what all of us just could only dream of. The palaces of Rajasthan, the temples of Bellur and Halibed all show beauty in its true form. It's just sad to see that a handful minority is ruling the vast majority in our country. These hooligans are openly flaunting their control over the police and the nauseating elements of our society.

Paintings are a medium of self expression. The person who paints is free, free even by the Indian Constitution that we so proudly cite, to express himself or herself in any way that he or she wishes to. This is something that is very personal. If you dont like it you should move onto the next painting and if you are someone from the VHP, BJP or Sang Parivar just move along to the next garbage dump and park yourselves there.

Am Old Skool already

The recent ads on Star show that there will be some Old Skool programs on the telly starting the 14th. Some of which include Wonder Years and Dougie Houser MD. These were the days when cable telivision wasnt that widespread and the few english channels that we had were always the talk of the next days lunch breaks in school. I still remember all of us talking about Winnie Cooper and how Kevin tried to kiss her unsuccessfully and all that. It was totally awesome. Will be fun catchin up on these classics or as they are calling it ... the old school stuff :)

impeDiments

The untimely demise of my creativity and enthusiasm can be greatly attributed to the presence of the hierarchial egos.

Good 'ol 70s and 80s

Heard some of these beauties on Yahoo Radio

You've got a friend (album:mud slide slim and true horizon) - james taylor
I'll have to say i love ya in a song - jim croce (time in a bottle)
You are so beautiful - joe cocker(ultimate collection)
I cant make you love me - bonnie rait(luck of the draw)

Now I feel like diggin up my oldies collection... Oh the beauty of romancing it with the blues, some jazz, some slow music and just swaying... considering that I dont know how to dance :) haha

Consciously Numb!

Getting out of the city is always a dream during our hectic schedules. Managing a break from the rigour of our mundane routines is just something that most of don't manage to do as often as we'd like. But whenever I get such a chance I make sure I enjoy it. Other than the pleasure of it all there is so much that you learn about some different people, our own country and most importantly about oneself.

Where ever I have gone throughout India there is one thing that I have noticed. The poor or the underprivileged are actually always more honest than the urban junta that I encounter on a daily basis. For example take the cost of a cold drink out here in Gurgaon. It would be really rare to find someone selling it at MRP, cooling charge is what they term the additional charge. I have been lucky to see many smaller villages along the routes to different cities and never at such places have I been asked to pay a dime more than the MRP.

Also take the temples in these smaller villages. The villagers actually get together and put in their savings just to build a decent temple to come and worship their deity. And we've seen this in Kerala, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Maharashtra.. and I am sure it is the case everywhere else. Now compare this to the tens of lacs spent by people like the Bachans to get a glimpse of the deity at Tirupati.

How is it that people tend to loose sight of the simpler things in life? How can we keep forgetting about basic decency, honesty, integrity and if possible a little bit of selflessness at times? Why is it so hard for many of us to reach into our pockets and put in a cheque to a cause that we care about? All of us with our big degrees and fancy gizmos just seem to have forgotten so much about our country even though we are reminded of it at every signal or crossing in all the cities. How do we manage to turn a blind eye towards so many ghastly things that happen around us? Are our consciences that numb of feeling?

Appy Fizz Jingle "Welcome Back" Rocks

After a fundu Nike "Just do it" commercial for the Indian cricket mayhem, that turned dry with an eary exit, for the world cup 2007 there is an even better Appy Fizz "Welcome Back" jingle doing the rounds on radio. Dunno if they have a telly ad for this as well.

(a lil that I could remember go along these lines)

well its not all that bad
atleast now you have time for one more ad
welcome back welcome back home boys in blue
you went as men
but came back with no clue

find another scapegoat who you can blame...
find a reason something to cheer... there's always next to next to next to next year
welcome back welcome back home boys in blue
you went as men
but came back with no clue

Absolutely fab. Am sure they mustve got this done cheap too since the ad companies are sitting empty handed too. Creativity at its best. Thanks Appy Fizz made my day.


The media company now has the ad on YouTube... Alti-Kool :)

Indian Cricket needs sportsmen

It may sound cliche coming from me but when India was thrashed out of the world cup 2007 the only thing I could say is "I told ya so". So now that the losers are back in the country there is a whole hue and cry as to what is to be made to get Indian cricket back on track. Here are my suggestions

Cricket, if it has to be called a sport, needs sportsmen and not cricketers who kinda grace the field with their presence and fat bellies (read Shewag and Tendulkar). People who can bend their backs and pick up a ball (read Kumble and all of the current team) and guys who can actually run 100m in less than 20 seconds. Ya i dont think anyone in the Indian team can run 100m even in a minute.

So all the crap being laid out by the crappy BCCI is good news for me. For sure other sports are bound to benefit. I hope they do and I can bet they will flourish even if they get 1% of what goes into cricket.